Andrew R. Highsmith is a specialist in modern U.S. history with particular interests in metropolitan development, public policy, racial and economic inequalities, and public health.

His first book, Demolition Means Progress: Flint, Michigan, and the Fate of the American Metropolis, explores the spatial and structural barriers to racial equality and economic opportunity in metropolitan Flint from the early twentieth century to the present. An in-depth case study of the political economy of racial and economic inequality in modern America, Demolition explains how the perennial quest for urban renewal—even more than white flight, corporate abandonment, and other forces—contributed to mass suburbanization, racial and economic division, deindustrialization, and political fragmentation.

Professor Highsmith's current book project, A Toxic Republic: Life and Death along the Color Line in Modern America, is a broad national and, in places, transnational study of the root causes and consequences of racial health inequality in the US from 1900 to the present. Throughout this period, deeply inequitable processes of migration and metropolitan development regularly interacted with the rise of American militarism, mass consumption, economic globalization, and growth-oriented governance to shape lasting racial health disparities in the US. This book traces the evolution of such health inequities and their roles in shaping social justice struggles. At its core, the book explains why, despite generations of medical advances and health activism, members of disenfranchised racial minority groups have been and continue to be less healthy than their peers in the larger society.

Publications

Books:

A Toxic Republic: Life and Death along the Color Line in Modern America (in progress).

Demolition Means Progress: Flint, Michigan, and the Fate of the American Metropolis (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Historical Studies of Urban America, July 6, 2015).

“Review of S. Paul O’Hara, Gary, the Most American of All American Cities,” Technology and Culture 53 (July 2012): 710-712.

“Review of Patrick D. Jones, The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee,” Law and History Review 28, no. 2 (May 2010): 560-562.

“Review of Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism,” H-Pol, H-Net Reviews, May 2006, http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=283951160842622.

Grants

Grants and Fellowships:

Research Grant, Medical Humanities Initiative, University of California, Irvine, 2016–2017. Project: A Toxic Republic: Life and Death along the Color Line in Modern America (book);
National Academy of Education / Spencer Foundation, Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2012-2013;
Fellowship for Recent Doctoral Recipients, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation / American Council of Learned Societies, 2009-2010;
Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation / American Council of Learned Societies, 2008-2009;
Dissertation Fellowship, Spencer Foundation, 2007-2008;
Melvin and Janey Lack Graduate Research Fellowship, Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, University of Michigan, 2006-2007;
Michigan Graduate Student Fellowship, Institute for the Humanities, University of Michigan, 2006-2007;
Predoctoral Fellowship, Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan, 2006-2007 (declined);
Doctoral Research Award, Nonprofit and Public Management Center, University of Michigan, 2005;
Humanities Research Candidacy Fellowship, Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan, 2005;
J. Vann Memorial Fellowship, Department of History, University of Michigan, 2005;
Research Grant, Department of History, University of Michigan, 2004;
Research Fellowship, South Carolina Bar Foundation, Columbia, SC, 2003-2004;
Dean’s Research Grant, Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan, 2002;
Research Grant, Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan, 2002;
Regents’ Fellowship, Department of History, University of Michigan, 2001-2002.

Other Experience

Assistant Professor, Public AdministrationUniversity of Texas at San Antonio 2010—2015

Faculty Affiliate, HistoryUniversity of Texas at San Antonio 2010—2015

Faculty Affiliate, Urban and Regional PlanningUniversity of Texas at San Antonio 2010—2015